Webb wants his home state to have the right to explore for energy off Virginiaâ€™s coast. His staff insists his proposal pertains only to natural gas, and not oil, and that it is completely in line with the stateâ€™s other two leading Democrats â€” Gov. Tim Kaine and former Gov. Mark Warner, who is running for Senate.

Yet by attaching his name to the bill, sponsored by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), Webb is taking a step away from Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the partyâ€™s presidential candidate, who opposes offshore drilling, and one closer to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP standard-bearer who recently called for lifting the federal ban.

Webbâ€™s divergence from his party also comes as his name is being mentioned on Obamaâ€™s short list for a running mate.

So then…why would this prompt Obama to pick Webb? Well, complete ideological purity is not what Obama is preaching, so this would be in line with the “unity” theme, right? After all, he shouldn’t have to agree with Webb on everything, just some of the more important initiatives like Iraq, Iran, health care and taxation. And, to the best of my knowledge, they line up on those key issues.

12 Responses to “Webb Splits With Obama Over Drilling”

If this was another issue maybe it would help, but economists agree this won’t bring down gas prices any time soon, if ever, so its pandering, like the Gas Tax Holiday, and Obama is going to hit McCain over the head with it.

I doput it hurts him. I expect Obama to begin tacking rightward soon. He has to be slow about it so that progressives can enjoy the afterglow, and do a victory lap at the convention. But Obaam can name his VOP choice as his big convention news, and then begin the tack rightward in the aftermath.

Remember how I’ve been harping on the handful of real battleground states, especially Ohio. Well Webb would make a nice part of the story that begins “I am a regular guy who can feel your blue collar pain.” Both for the pragmatics of wanting to extract fuel that we need, and because he’s from VA. I don’t expect VA to be as in play as many have suggested, but with Eebb on the ticket, that may change. I think anyone with an odor of blue dog is a good choice. I still think its gonna be Richardson though.

How does McCain attract blue collar moderate swing voters that he can feel their pain, when his pulse never seems to rise above 70 these days?

Obama is doing his flip flops in numbers now..Public Financing, Nafta and I expect him to sputter away from his stance on “no off shore drilling.”Obama says his campaign is in essence “publically financed” due to his so called grass roots donations, but again that is another lie. Please look at who is actually donating the BIG BUCKS to his campaign and that grass roots will change to BIG LOBBYISTS AND LOBBYIST BUNDLERS. When will Obama Pods get their heads outta their “assets” and realize Obama is the biggest political fraud our party/country has ever witnessed. Good luck in general, you and he will need it.

The only way to bring about a rapid decrease in gas prices would be if everyone stops driving today. We must start the process of planning for the future. If Webb brings a more well rounded view to the WH, then I say great.

Obama received the same amount of money as McCain from corporations and lobbyists. In addition to corporate donors, Obama was successful at raising money direct via the internet but to claim that his fund raise is purely grassroots is simply false.

Oil: Any idiot with a calendar will tell you that a commodity that a lead time to market of 5 to 10 years is going to have very little immediate impact so stop with the idiot blustering. Fact is most Americans understand that the high gasoline prices being paid today were put in motion decades ago when Congress legislated and taxed big oil overseas. The Left wants to claim that everything is fine with importing oil from abroad but that is the essence of the issue. Obama’s Moby Dick is oil. He can not get around it nor can he get behind it. Ask that same economist what high oil prices are equivalent to in macro economic terms? It’s like a massive interest bearing bond but instead of the interest rate being variable, the principal is. High oil prices decrease liquidity – it’s like a gigantic cement truck being poured into Obama’s nice little Left wing pool party. No where to go but out of the water.

Webb is smart in distancing himself from Obama in this issue. The Democratic Party is burying themselves with this issue. Even if drilling wouldn’t show results for the next 5 years, its still a step in the right direction and shows the public real progress in our race for oil independence. Windfall profits taxes and Opec lawsuits are proven failed policies and the public knows that.

The price of oil is very much psychological” disturbances in the Middle East drive the price up. Similarly, drilling for more oil will drive the price down. Even if real supply takes 10 years to materialize, it is still better than nothing. Had we started drilling 10 years ago, we would have an extra million barrels of oil per day, which is quite a bit.

Obama will say anything, do anything, support anything, and change with out reason any and everything he has said, done or supported. He’ll do this in front of every one because, 1.) He is a blind ideologue and all that matters is winning and enabling complete control of all three houses of government in furtherance of the goals of his fellow left-wing liberal ideologues. And 2.), He is incredibly arrogant and confident that his rhetoric, charisma and messianic speaking skills will placate his core mindless lemming-like followers.

This is only the umpteenth time that Barak the Weasel has changed his position. I suppose that is what he means by “change”. I started calling him Barak the Weasel because of his weasel words concerning the racist Reverend Wright, and continue because of his apparent ability to slip through any hole, no matter how small, to get into the henhouse. Please do not underestimate this weasel. He is a kneejerk Marxist, which means he doesn’t believe in your property rights (property is the means by which we exercise our liberty), and he does believe in government control of the economy (your property rights again). Barak the Leftist Weasel is a below the belt Chicago politician who can sweet talk little old white ladies out of their pension checks. Secret Muslim? Who knows? Hamas’ choice for the White House? On the public record! How many degrees of bad can there be?

Get real! Will the airline industry be solar powered in the next 50 years? Will tractor-trailers (semi’s) run on solar? Will deisel powered railroads run on the wind? All of these petro-chemical industries are laying off workers, moth-balling their aircraft, etc. You want to be hostages to arabs for the next 30 years? When? and Where? are the new “renewables” …
10, 20, 30 years yet to come. Thanks to the Dems pandering to the envinronmental extremists 30 years ago … I guess my grandchildren will not see their grandfather this year . . . I’m retired on a fixed income and can’t afford the trip. Thanks Obama, Harry. and Nancy “Let them eat cake” Pelosi!

I agree with Pdx632. We are on the brink of a large scale shortage in energy supplies in the very near future due to massive over-population and dwindling natural resources. Exploration and new technologies are key if we will meet the energy demands of the future. And like Pdx632 said, if Webb wants to bring more options to the table via exploration, then by all means, let’s do it.

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